Apr 13 – Man Accused Of Raping And Sexually Abusing 11-Year Old Girl Goes On Trial
The trial of a man who is accused of raping and sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl started this morning at the Supreme Court.
Kevin Norman Whitfield, who was a serving GDP officer at the time of the alleged offences, is said to have sexually abused and raped the daughter of his former partner.
The allegations date back to incidents which reportedly occurred during an eight-month period in 1999 when Whitfield lived with his partner and her daughter in their family home in Vineyards. Whitfield denies all the charges against him.
WARNING: SOME READERS MAY FIND THE DETAILS OF THIS CASE UPSETTING
Opening the case for the Crown, the Attorney General, Ricky Rhoda QC, said that Whitfield had started a relationship with the victim’s mother, who was a widow, in 1998.
Mr Rhoda said that, at first, Whitfield was pleasant and caring but that this was a “classic case of grooming.” Once Whitfield moved into the family home, early in 1999, the alleged abuse started.
Mr Rhoda said that Whitfield would visit his partner’s daughter’s bedroom at night and in the mornings and would start touching her body in an inappropriate manner.
By March 1999, according to Mr Rhoda, Whitfield had started kissing the 11-year-old and touching her breasts and vagina. Mr Rhoda said that this behaviour soon escalated and Whitfield regularly forced the girl to perform fellatio, often making her swallow his semen.
“He used her as a sex toy,” said Mr Rhoda.
It was during subsequent visits to her bedroom, and also during incidents on the sofa in the flat’s living room, that Whitfield allegedly raped the victim on numerous occasions.
Speaking about how such alleged abuse went undetected, Mr Rhoda argued that the defendant was “clever” and “projected himself as a father figure.”
Mr Rhoda added that, during this time, the alleged abuse took its toll on the victim and she started losing weight and vomiting.
He said that Whitfield’s abuse became more aggressive until it stopped in October 1999 when the victim’s mother caught him allegedly touching her daughter. At this point, although the allegations were not put to the RGP until several years later, Whitfield reportedly stopped abusing the young girl.
Mr Rhoda then explained that the victim, over the next few years, told her mother about some of the incidents but that it wasn’t until 2007 that, while undergoing therapy in the US where she now lives, the full details of the alleged abuse came to light.
The victim, who was studying in Massachusetts, sent a letter to Whitfield, copies of which were also sent to the Gibraltar Chronicle, the Masonic Lodge (of which he was a member) the GDP and the RGP, in which she speaks in an open way about the allegations.
Following investigations by the RGP, Whitfield was arrested in November 2013. Mr Rhoda said that the whole process, culminating in today’s criminal proceedings, were part of an attempt by the victim to “confront her demons.”
After Mr Rhoda’s opening statement, the victim, who is now in her late twenties, took to the witness box. Under oath, and answering questions put to her by the Crown, she spoke about how the alleged abuse had affected her life.
After describing in full, graphic detail the various allegations of sexual assault and rape, she said: “I’ve lost count of how many times he raped me […] It’s affected my whole life.”
She then read out the letter that she sent to Whitfield and others in Gibraltar. In the letter, she hits out at Whitfield.
“He robbed me of my innocence,” she said.
“The first time I had sex should have been with someone I loved, not someone who was abusing me.”
She also described him as a “paedophile” who “forced your filthy penis into places that never welcomed it.”
She closes the letter by saying that Whitfield “abused the trust of a fatherless child.”
“My life will never be the same after what he did to me,” she concluded.
Whitfield faces the following charges: Two counts of sexual assault on a child under the age of 13; two counts of causing or encouraging or assisting a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity; two counts of rape of a child under the age of 13. He has pleaded not guilty to all the above charges.
Whitfield is represented by David Dumas QC, assisted by Kenneth Navas. Ricky Rhoda QC and Johann Fernandez appear for the Crown, and Puisne Judge Karen Prescott is hearing the trial which is estimated to last at least one week.
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